After a meeting held on Monday in Tehran between Iranian foreign minister, Dr Kamal Kharrazi, and his visiting Danish counterpart, Per Stig Moeller, the two ministers talked to reporters in a joint press conference.

In response to a question on the level of economic and trade relations between Iran and the Europe, in the context of nuclear talks between the two sides, Dr Kharrazi said: Our negotiations has not reached a final result and we are still in the preliminary stage.

Naturally, he went on to say, if the negotiations produces a result and a contract is signed between Iran and European Union, that contract will act as a guarantee for long-term economic relations between the two sides.

At the present conditions, the existence of the issue of change of tariff or other obstacles and problems in the relations between the two sides, is due to the fact that we have not yet reached a final result and the stage of signing a contract, and these conditions are temporary, he stressed.

Dr Kharrazi expressed hope that the Europe, with its strategic and long-term conception in its cooperation with Iran, would expedite action in the negotiations leading to concluding long-term economic and trade contracts; so that the ground would be prepared for smooth and permanent cooperation between the two sides. In response to a question asked by a Danish reporter on Iran`s insistence for continuation of uranium enrichment, Dr Kharrazi said: We are seeking to gain access to an extensive industry of uranium enrichment, in order to use it for supplying the fuel for our power plants.

Iran`s nuclear activity is completely peaceful and transparent as well, and this transparency is indicative of the fact that the Islamic Republic of Iran in no way intends to develop nuclear weapons.

Asked why Iran`s nuclear activities were tardily announced to the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA) , Dr Kharrazi said: Our nuclear activities are fully open, and are not at all hidden, and the reason for our not announcing such activities from the beginning had been that we had underwent embargo from the very beginning.

If we announced openly this issue from the beginning, definitely more embargoes would be imposed against us and we could not be provided with necessary equipment in this regard, he added.

We tried to act transparently, and at this stage also that we have gained access to this technology, we have already announced all our activities to the Agency and we have not breached any of our international undertakings, he stressed.

We were supposed to announce our activities to IAEA, 180 days prior to launching of the installations, and we have announced all our nuclear activities like those in Natanz and Isfahan installations, to IAEA in due time, he went on to say.

In response to another question asked by the Danish reporter on the situation of human rights and the jailed reporters in Iran, Dr Kharrazi said: Human rights in every society should be dealt with on the basis of cultural and religious values of that society, and in every community there exists some red lines.

These red lines exist in your country , and the united States also has its own red line, and these red lines should be observed.

He continued: I don`t want to say that anyone who is in prison should continue to be kept there, perhaps there exists some cases that we also disagree with, but what should be noticed is that we should pay attention to these cases separately and see whether the red lines have been observed or not.

As regards dealing with press offences also we have our own system, and press offences in Iran are examined with the presence of the jury, he said, adding that if anybody is put in jail without any reason, he should be set free and be allowed to continue its activity.

He emphasized: In the context of Human rights, every country naturally has its own legal, religious and cultural bases for implementing human rights declaration, and naturally every country may face some obstacles in this context.

He further said: It is only through a long-term program, based on the principles and values of any society that one can be hopeful that ascending to a higher level of human rights could be possible, otherwise merely emphasizing on certain examples can not be helpful, and it rather is considered as an obstacles in this context, and there exist some examples in every society.

In continuation of a response already being given by foreign minister of Denmark, to a question regarding nuclear negotiations between Iran and Europe, Dr Kharrazi emphasized: The Islamic Republic of Iran expects the Europe that in the future meeting of steering committee to be held on April 29, 2005, the negotiations reach to a conclusion, so that the two sides later on can take practical steps.

This, he went on to say, besides enabling the Islamic Republic of Iran to embark upon uranium enrichment for use in its nuclear power plants, prepares the ground for long-term and strategic cooperation between Iran and the Europe in the economic, industrial and political fields, as well as promotion of peace and security in the region.